Preservation plan includes Oconee National Forest

ATLANTA -- Georgia's 115,000-acre Oconee National Forest is included in a Clinton administration plan to protect 40 million acres of federally owned forest from logging, mining and other development.

But which portions of the site will be affected by the initiative announced by the president Wednesday -- even whether it will apply to one or both of the Oconee's non-contiguous northern or southern units -- remained unclear Thursday both to supporters and opponents of the plan.

The preservation initiative, Clinton's second of the year, designates the affected acreage within national forests as roadless areas, meaning the land cannot be developed in any way. But unlike the president's $1 billion ''land legacy'' plan to buy and preserve open spaces, which is bogged down in the Republican-controlled Congress, the forest-protection proposal does not require congressional action.

Timber industry critics decried the initiative as a veiled move to abolish logging within national forests.

Almost 80 percent of the 192-million-acre national forest system already is unavailable to loggers, including 40 million acres of treeless grasslands, said Michael Klein, spokesman for the American Forestry and Paper Association.

If all 40 million acres affected by the president's plan are in areas not previously restricted, the initiative would effectively kick the timber industry out of the national forests, he said.

''That's clearly what this administration is all about,'' said Deborah Baker, executive director of the Southern Timber Council, which represents timber companies in 13 states, including Georgia.

However, in announcing the plan, Clinton noted that less than 5 percent of timber harvested in America comes from national forests, and of that amount just 5 percent comes from roadless areas.

None of the parties with a stake in the issue -- timber industry representatives, U.S. Forest Service officials or preservationists -- could say which portions of the various national forests will be included in the plan.

But George Gay, director of The Wilderness Society's regional office in Atlanta, said most of the 174,000 acres of roadless areas in national forests in Georgia are in the Chattahoochee National Forest, so it probably will make up the bulk of the acreage included in the initiative.

''The Chattahoochee is hilly, with a lot of areas that are hard to get roads into,'' he said. ''That is not the case with the Oconee.''

The president's plan would take effect following the issuing of regulations by the Forest Service, subject to a detailed environmental review and public comment.